Alabama

Alabama picked by media to repeat as SEC Champions

Alabama running back Eddie Lacy (42) take soft during the first half of the Alabama vs Georgia SEC Championship NCAA football game, Saturday, December 01, 2012, at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Ga.
Vasha Hunt/ vhunt@al.com

The expectations for the Alabama Crimson Tide in 2013 will once again be nothing less than a championship. In the annual poll of media members at SEC Media Days, the Crimson Tide were picked to win both the SEC and the Western Division for the second straight year.

With 243 members voting, Alabama received first place votes from 182 voters followed by Georgia with 38 votes to win the SEC. South Carolina, Texas A&M and LSU also received votes.

In divisional voting, Alabama received 225 of 243 possible votes to win the SEC West with Texas A&M following with 11 and LSU receiving 7. The media predicted Ole Miss to finish fourth followed by Auburn in fifth, Mississippi State sixth and Arkansas last in the division.

In the East, Georgia landed 149 first place votes followed by South Carolina with 75 and Florida with 19. Vanderbilt earned a 4th place divisional finish prediction from the media, amongst the highest predicted finish ever for the Commodores, followed by Tennessee, Missouri and finally Kentucky.